Native American Writers Accelerator Grant

With support from Netflix, the Native American Media Alliance is introducing the Native American Writer Accelerator Grant for graduates from their highly successful Native American TV Writers Lab where participating writers have the opportunity to develop and complete an original television pilot.

Created to give new opportunities to Native American writers, the Native American Writer Accelerator Grant provides $10,000 grants and professional support to help the writers develop their craft, pitch their projects and bolster their careers. In its inaugural year, the Native American Writer Accelerator Grant has awarded 9 Native American writers from the 6th Annual Native American TV Writers Lab.

The Native American Writer Accelerator Grant is also designed to encourage Native American writers to expand on their current opportunities. According to numerous industry diversity reports, the Native American population represents the largest disparity when it comes to representation in all of entertainment.

“This initiative represents another great opportunity for Native American writers and bolsters our fellows going through our incredibly robust development pipeline,” declared Ian Skorodin, Director of Strategy for the Native American Media Alliance. “As always, we are excited to see the awesome outcomes from the talented Native American artists we continue to develop.”

The collaboration with Netflix on the Native American Writer Accelerator Grant is part of the recently announced Netflix Fund for Creative Equity, where Netflix will invest USD $100 million dollars over the next five years in a combination of external organizations with a strong track record of setting underrepresented communities up for success in the TV and film industries, as well as bespoke programs that will help Netflix to identify, train and provide job placement for up-and-coming talent globally.

Recipients of the Native American Writer Accelerator Grant:

Alex Nystrom (Chippewa)

Andrina Smith (Shinnecock)

Diego Moreno (Pascua Yaqui) 

Glenís Hunter (Black, Latinx and Shinnecock)

Jeremy Charles (Cherokee)

JohnTom Knight (Cherokee)

Liz Stephens (Choctaw)

Shelby Ramirez (Navajo/Diné)

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